


South Of Freezing To Death

by athingofvikings



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: A Bit Of Spite-Writing After Someone Bashed Smutty Shipping One-Shots On Discord, Anal Sex, Antarctic Research Station AU, Double Penetration, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Moresomes, Multi, Open Relationships, Oral Sex, PWP, Polyamory, Threesomes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:08:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29237337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athingofvikings/pseuds/athingofvikings
Summary: Winter is closing in for Antarctica, and the last cargo plane of the season arrives with supplies and a few new people to overwinter.  One of them is really cute, and Astrid and Eret can't help but thirst over the new arrival.
Relationships: Background Hiccup/Camicazi/Fishlegs, Eret/Astrid Hofferson, Eret/Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	South Of Freezing To Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HeathenVampires](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeathenVampires/gifts).



> So I don’t usually write smut, but this is a bit of spite-writing. A certain someone on the ATOV Discord Server decided to use my longform work to bash the majority of other fanfics out there, characterizing them as garbage, _“Piles upon piles of one-off shipping ficlets with no backbone, often lots of lemons. Stories with actual real plot are extremely rare, ones that didn't go on eternal hiatus after 30+ chapters, rarer still.“_ So this is a response, as I write a one-off shipping ficlet with no backbone and lots of lemons. So I hope you enjoy this story with no real plot and a variety of citrus!

“You know, it’s funny,” Astrid said as she watched the C-5 cargo plane touch down on the icy runway.

“Oh?” Eret asked from where he stood next to her, the two of them dressed in layers of coats. “How so?”

“Well, I’m staying because I have work to do, and I don’t want to go back out to a pandemic,” she said as the plane slowed. “And a bunch of other people, including you, did the same. But most people still left, and apparently everyone out there in the wide world is going steadily nuts from quarantining. And yet _here,_ good luck _not_ seeing anyone!”

Eret scoffed. “True on that. At least anyone coming has been through quarantine already.”

“And they’re getting here just in time, too,” Astrid said, glancing at the sun; it was just above the horizon, casting long shadows and reflecting brilliantly across the icy landing field of Phoenix Airfield—a fancy name for a flattened piece of sea ice—and making Mount Erebus in the distance light up dramatically. And in another week, the sun would start setting, dancing on the horizon before setting finally, not to be seen again for months. The cargo plane came to a halt, and then started to taxi over to where they stood near the trucks and Ivan the Terra Bus.

“Welp, time to start playing welcoming committee,” Eret said, and stretched.

Astrid glanced at him appreciatively as he did so; the pair of them had been together for over a year now, since they’d both arrived at the base at the edge of Antarctica, and they had _fun._ He was also an adorable bio-nerd, and she had video of him playing with penguins and seals saved for when she needed a smile while managing logistics.

“So, how many new arrivals do we have on the manifest?” she asked as they made their way over to the plane, whose nose was starting to open up, revealing the cargo bay inside. A few other technicians were standing nearby to help unload; from there, they’d be all traveling together over to McMurdo Base as part of a convoy.

“Just a few; mostly cargo,” he said with a chuckle. “But you knew that already.”

With a laugh, she stood near the opening nose-hatch as it rose; she could see several red parka-clad forms standing on the staircase that led up to the passenger space on the upper deck, bags slung over their shoulders. As they reached the bottom, Astrid called out, “Welcome to Antarctica! If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you over to Ivan, and then we’ll get the plane emptied! From there, it’s over to McMurdo and we can get you oriented and settled in!”

A chorus of yeses answered her, and they turned and followed her and Eret to Ivan the Terra Bus. Leaving Eret to get them settled in the seats of the giant ice-bus, she went back and helped her fellow techies get the carts unhitched from the restraint rings inside of the plane and rolled out of the plane.

“Do we have everything?” she asked.

Ruffnut nodded, making the hood of her parka bounce. “Yup. Looks like everything is here, boss. Food, medicines, and, you’ll be happy to note, our winter supply of condoms.” This last was added with a smirk.

Astrid smirked right back. “Jealous, Ruff?”

Ruffnut shrugged as she pushed the cart out of the cargo hold. “Nah, I’ll find some nice guy to play with for the winter. Or girl. I’m good either way. Come on, let’s get this back to base.”

Astrid mmh-hmmm’ed in agreement; it was a _balmy_ negative seventeen Celsius out and she was quite eager to get inside as well.

After the cargo was stowed on the trucks and the airfield technicians and Fuelies got to work on checking over and refueling the airplane, Astrid and the others made their way over to Ivan.

Finding Eret inside was easy; he was chatting with several of the newcomers, who were spread out through the bus, which was nowhere near capacity. Making her way up the aisle, she plopped herself into the seat next to him and planted a kiss on his cheek before settling back.

A chuckle came from the newcomer in the opposite seat as Eret paused for a moment, grinning.

“I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?” Astrid asked, making it clear that she wasn’t sorry in the slightest.

“Ha! No, Eret here was just giving me a story about how we’re lucky that Ivan is working today, and that we didn’t need to walk to McMurdo,” the newcomer said. Reaching out a hand, he said, “Henry ‘Hiccup’ Haddock. Engineer, at your service.”

“Ah, right, you’re one of the new tech-heads. Good, I needed some. Astrid Hofferson, base logistics. And this lug here,” she poked Eret where she knew he was ticklish, “is a grantee biologist with a death wish.”

“Oh?” Hiccup asked with a smirk as Eret made a mock-protesting sound. “From dating you?”

“Nah, he knows I’d kill him if he got himself hurt,” she said with a grin as Eret nodded. “He just goes _diving._ _Under the ice._ ”

“Ooof. That’s a special kind of crazy,” Hiccup said cheerfully, and Eret shrugged.

“Studying the ecosystems down here is important,” he said. “And you need to do it hands on.”

Astrid shrugged as Ivan started up—and then coughed and the engine died. “Well, fuck,” she said. “Looks like you spoke too soon about needing to walk. I’ll go yell at the techies to get us running or see if we’ll need to hitch a ride with the cargo trucks.”

She pulled herself out of her seat just as Hiccup did the same from his, saying, “I’ll help!” and they bounced off of each other.

Eret snickered and they both looked at him, and then, with a roll of the eyes, Astrid gently slugged her boyfriend on the arm before turning back to Hiccup and saying, “Well, you are an engineer. Have at it.”

“Happily!” he said, and got out of the seat, Astrid following this time.

Getting the engine open took a minute, and Hiccup was elbow deep inside it almost immediately. “Oh, I think I see the problem. How old is Ivan?”

“Twenty-seven? Twenty-eight? He was built in ninety-three by the Canadians,” she commented, handing him a wrench as he called for it.

“Old workhorse. Well, Ivan, I’ll be sure to get you some TLC at some point,” Hiccup said from where he half-vanished into the engine compartment. “Ah ha! Got it!” He pulled himself free. “I think I got it!”

Astrid turned and called up the entry ladder, “Try it now!”

The driver shot her a thumbs up and started the engine, which turned over after a moment.

“Well done!” she said, giving Hiccup an enthusiastic backslap. “Come on, I’m freezing and I want to get back to base.”

He beamed at her and she smiled back.

The ride back to McMurdo was the usual mix of routine boredom and gorgeous, if sterile, landscapes. Astrid had to smile as several of the newcomers gawked at the great ice fields and the mountain in the distance—and Hiccup got a high-end camera out of his bag and started snapping pictures.

“I thought you were an engineer,” Eret commented as he and Astrid posed for a picture, making silly faces and gestures at him.

“I am, professionally. I’m a hobbyist photographer,” he said absently as he fiddled with the camera before hitting the shutter button a few times. “There, what do you guys think?” he said, turning the camera around.

Astrid grinned at the image on the little screen. Both she and Eret were giving each other bunny-ears and sticking out their tongues. “I think it’s good.”

The rest of the ride was just as enjoyable as Ivan ambled along the ice road up to the base; Eret was cuddly, Hiccup was funny, and the newcomers were mostly caught between the excitement of arrival and recovering from the five hour flight from New Zealand. Arriving at the base and getting the newcomers all settled in took a few hours, but she had the routine down to a pat by now.

“—and this is your room,” Astrid said to Hiccup, opening the dormitory door and showing him inside.

Hiccup pulled his bags in with him, and looked around the small room. “Feels like I’m back in my old college dorm, complete with linoleum flooring and tube lighting!” he said with a laugh.

She chuckled. “It does have that feel, doesn’t it? But at least you don’t have to share; most of the summer peak has left, and we’ll be down to under two hundred people by the time the sun sets.”

He laughed again. “And at least I won’t have to deal with seeing a tie hanging on the doorknob, right?” he said as he heaved one of his suitcases up and started to unpack.

She snickered and then smirked as he bent over. _Wow. What a nice ass._ She took a moment to admire the tight buns under the jeans—once he’d shed his bulky parka, he’d revealed himself to be a lanky beanpole with a warm smile and pretty green eyes—before saying, “So let me finish getting you oriented before you settle in?”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” he said, and straightened up. “Long day.”

“You’re telling me. The sun hasn’t set in four months,” she said with a smile. “This dorm doesn’t have windows for that exact reason.”

“…You know, I hadn’t considered that,” he said as they walked down the hall.

“Yeah. It’s a whole thing. And in a week, it’ll be several long days and nights and then four months of night. And some of the dorms have windows, so people have gotten… _creative_ with ways of blocking out the light so they can sleep. Anyway, come on, put your coat back on so I can finish giving you the tour.”

He did so, and they stepped outside. “Anyway, just to complete the dormitory feeling, the Galley is over there, and it’s the main cafeteria; since we run three shifts around the clock, the Midrats—the guys who do the midnight shift—have dinner in the morning. You get used to it.” She pointed up the hill. “You’ll be working by the maintenance huts up that way, and I expect we’ll be working with each other a lot.”

“I look forward to it,” he said earnestly.

“Same. Come on, let's get you fed and watered and then I need to go run inventory. Over that way is the Skua hut—it’s named after this scavenger bird that likes to raid our garbage, and it’s where we put stuff that people don’t take back with them. Check there if you need anything for yourself…”

.oOo.

With her shift over, Astrid went and found Eret in one of the rec rooms, animatedly steering a digital high-performance car through some city streets on the screen in front of him.

“So how was your day?” he asked cheerfully as she poured herself into the battered old armchair next to him.

“Pretty good. Newcomers are settled—it’s the second visit for a few, so they already knew their way around—and supplies are inventoried. We’re set for the winter on everything a hundred and eighty people will need for six months.” She twisted in the chair a bit to let her legs dangle over the side while her back went up against the other armrest. “It’s a lot better than getting eighty people settled all at once.”

“I bet. And—” he cursed as one of the other cars on the screen bumped him and sent him into a spin, “—you got to spend some time with some of them. Or at least one of them.”

She gave him a sidelong look.

“What? I’m not _blind._ He’s _cute,”_ Eret commented cheerfully. “Besides, you know how this place gets, especially over the winter. If you were interested in him, I’d happily give you a push, just for the sake of my pelvis!”

She snorted, amused at his comments. McMurdo Base was given literally tens of thousands of condoms to last six months, all of them free of charge to reduce any embarrassment. The math came out to something along the lines of more than a hundred condoms a day, and the base’s hundred and eighty personnel _would still go through them all_ before the sun rose again.

And, well…

She and Eret had done their share in that consumption last winter.

“And what about you? Aren’t you interested?”

“I definitely wouldn’t say no, but I’d want to know his preferences before making any inquiries,” Eret commented, and then pumped his fist in the air in victory as his car crossed the finish line in first place.

“That’s fair. So, how about you? When’s your next dive scheduled?”

“Day after tomorrow. Tomorrow I get to spend time in the office filing paperwork, and then I’m off to the lab with what I hope to find,” he said.

“Mmmh. Paperwork. Talk sexy to me,” she joked. “But I’m glad you’re going to get to go diving before the sun sets.” She frowned slightly. “I know that you check everything, but the thought of a nighttime polar dive…” She shivered.

“Well, that’s what my grant is paying for,” he said, giving her a warm smile. “Besides, I know I’ll be fine. I have a nice _warm_ dive to come back to.”

She snickered, heartened by his flirting—just as he’d intended, no doubt—and gave him a look. “Oh?” she said with a small smile, playing along.

“Oh yes. I trained in free diving, as you know, and I can hold my breath for a long time.” He waggled those maddening eyebrows of his at her as he continued to smile, turning the game console off and setting down the controller before turning to look at her. “It’s vitally important for a diver to be able to hold their breath while doing strenuous activity and still maintain focus the whole while.”

“You don’t say,” she said with a growing smirk. “And how do you test these sorts of things while safely on dry land?”

“I think I could be up for a demonstration,” he said seriously, and, with a waggle of his eyebrows, rose from his seat. “Coming?”

“You know I am,” she said with glee, and followed him.

Reaching their room—private for the last month and a half since their old roommates had flown back north, with the spare beds taken apart and stowed against the wall—they closed the door. As soon as it clicked close, she grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss.

He responded instantly, taking her shoulders in both hands and then sliding down her torso even as he kissed her back. Reaching her waistline, he broke the kiss and said, “So, want to test me?”

“You’re on,” she said with glee.

Grinning, he undid her belt and opened the fly of her pants, running his fingers around the waistband, making her shiver with anticipation. “When doing _penetration_ diving, you first need to do a buddy check on your partner, making sure your equipment is all in order before you go in,” he said seriously, even as his eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Oh? And is everything in order?” she responded, bucking against him, resisting rolling her eyes at his joke; she knew enough after a year together that diving under ice, in caves, or shipwrecks was called ‘penetration diving’, and it wasn’t the first time he’d made that joke—even if it _was_ still funny.

“Hmm. Need to make a visual inspection of the equipment,” he said mock-seriously. Still grinning, he pushed down her pants, exposing her to the cool air. As they puddled around her feet, she stepped out of them, and then laughed as he hefted her on top of the dresser.

Kneeling in front of her, he kissed along the insides of her thighs, his breath warm and soft. “Hmm. Looks good to me.” Running his fingertips along the sensitive skin, he smirked as she shivered—and then, appropriately, he dove onto her, latching onto her clit with his lips, sucking hard as he went.

She sucked in air and grabbed onto his hair as he got to work on her, feeling his tongue lap at her clit, and wrapped her legs around his shoulders, urging him closer and deeper. And he obliged, moving onto her slit, licking obscenely at it, the intimate sounds competing with her panting as he ate her out, his tongue darting inside of her, running around the perimeter of her folds as if tracing a complicated letter. Then when he pulled back and continued to kiss and suck at her clit, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her, she could have wept—and then she _did_ gasp and cry out as he somehow managed to wedge two of his fingers in there, inching them inside of her.

She could feel him wiggle them back and forth, even as she could also feel his tongue rasping over her clit, eager and unrelenting, and then he pursed his lips around the little nub and _sucked_ hard, just as he crooked his fingers into a hook that pressed firmly onto her g-spot.

And she came undone, spasming around him, her legs squeezing around his head as she babbled encouragement, even as he gulped air. Coming down from the climax, she grinned at him as he slumped down onto the floor, one leg folded up and his arm slung across the knee, looking smug and satisfied.

Gasping for breath, Astrid slumped down off of the dresser. Settling down next to Eret, she said, “Somehow I doubt that’s on the diver certification test.”

“It should be!”

She chuckled and eyed his tented pants with glee. “Well, I see that I need to help your inflator hose here reduce some pressure.”

“Heh. Time for my half of the buddy check then?”

“Yup!”

.oOo.

As the sun dipped below the horizon for the first time in months, Astrid felt as if the whole base gave a sigh together. And then a cheer.

It was time for a _party._

Over at the Big Gym, the band was tuning up, and the dining hall was cooking up a fancier-than-normal course of meals for the Overwinterers; it would be months before resupply was a possibility, so for now, they were on their own, with only a thin satellite connection tying them to the outside world.

So what else was there to do but cheer and laugh and feast?

Inland, at the actual south pole itself, instead of at the coast where she was, she knew that the station there celebrated the start of the arctic night with watching all three productions of _The Thing From Another World_ back to back. Down there, it was just forty-some people wintering over, and she wished them luck in keeping themselves sane.

It was weird, though, walking through the nearly deserted halls; in the summer, there had been over twelve hundred people packed into the base, and now…

Well, at least it meant that there was more privacy.

Entering the dining hall, though, was nice, as it was packed with people, noisy and warm and loud. A wave drew her attention, and she saw Eret already sitting with Hiccup, the two of them having grabbed a table with a third place setting already waiting for her.

Grinning at her thoughtful boyfriend, she made her way over and sat. “Hey you two,” she said fondly, giving Eret a peck on the cheek. “How’s it going?”

“I saw Hiccup here wandering around and figured I’d pull him in,” Eret said cheerfully. “We were just comparing notes, and the lunatic here actually _enjoyed_ the SnowCraft course!”

“What’s not to love?” Hiccup responded happily. “A real Antarctic survival skills course? Yes please!”

Eret scoffed as Astrid gave Hiccup a grin; she’d also loved the course, while Eret had hated it. “Another Happy Camper, then?” she said cheerfully. “Excellent! Especially since you’ll be helping with some of the snow trucks away from the base.”

They chatted as they ate, Hiccup telling them how things were back in the States, the boredom and anxiety of pandemic quarantine, and them sharing stories about a year on ice, isolated from a world in lockdown.

“—and when I got the offer to come down here and do some extreme condition engineering and photography, I talked it over with my, my family, and then accepted the offer.”

Astrid caught the comment and glanced at his hands—his nice hands, which looked all sorts of dexterous—and noted that he didn’t have a wedding band on. But that didn’t mean anything, especially as an engineer; he might just not wear it for risk of it getting caught in an engine, and wearing metal right on the skin in Antarctica could be dangerous. “And what does your family think?”

“Oh, they think it’s a great career opportunity,” he said. “But they’ll miss me. But how about you two?”

“What do you mean?” Eret asked.

“Well, I haven’t missed the PDAs,” Hiccup said cheerfully. “So are you two married, partners…?”

Eret and Astrid shared a glance before Eret said, “Well, my grant got extended because of the pandemic, otherwise I would have already left. And I wasn’t going to make Astrid decide between me and her career. We have fun together down here, but how long it’ll last…” He shrugged, and Astrid continued.

“Last year, he joked that it was a one-night stand—just that the ‘night’ lasts for six months.”

Hiccup snorted. “I see. I’d heard that was the case, but it’s another thing to be here.”

“Yup,” Eret deadpanned. “I nearly died of exhaustion last winter.”

Astrid jokingly swatted him as Hiccup laughed. “Oh, you two are a riot.”

Eret cackled. “Thank you, thank you!” He grinned at Hiccup. “So how about you? Got anyone waiting for you back home?”

Before Hiccup could respond, the conversation around them died. An announcement came over the PA welcoming everyone for the winter and that the dancing and music would begin soon over at the Big Gym.

Hiccup glanced up and around. “Rain check?”

“Of course! We’ve got all winter.”

.oOo.

Eret cursed as the water in the bucket sloshed over the side, splashing his feet with sub-freezing sea water. Hauling it over to the aquarium basin, he dumped it in, trying not to cause any major currents on his subjects.

“You okay?” came a voice from the door. “Ms. Hofferson said you needed a technician?”

Looking up, he saw Hiccup standing there in a pair of coveralls and carrying a toolbox. “Yes, please!” He motioned to the aquariums around him. “The main pump died and there’s no waterflow!”

“Ooof. Okay, let me see what I can do,” Hiccup said, hurrying over to the big housing that held the main pump and getting it open. “I’m going to shut down the power to it first.”

“Don’t want to electrocute yourself. Seems reasonable,” Eret said, going back and getting another bucketful.

“Yeah. I want the only deep-fried haddock around here to be breaded and on a plate with some tartar sauce.”

Eret snorted as he came up with another bucket’s worth of water. “Why do I have the distinct feeling that you’ve made that joke before?”

Hiccup, half of his body now folded up into the pump housing, said dryly, “What gave you that impression?”

Eret eyed the other man, especially that cute butt that Astrid had been telling him about, as well as the pair of long lanky legs dangling out across the floor, and said, “I dunno, it seemed a bit _fishy_ that you had it ready to go.”

“Are you saying that my taste in puns is offal?”

“Ha! Well, this is going _swimmingly._ ”

Hiccup pulled himself out of the pump housing and gave Eret a smirk. “Is that a challenge? Because if we’re going to be doing fish puns, be warned that I can pack them in like sardines.”

Feeling cheerful for the first time since he’d heard the thrum of the pump stop, Eret beamed at him. “I look forward to your attempts to school me.”

Hiccup laughed and pulled himself back into the pump housing. “I have to say, if you’re trawling for a response, you’re going to need a better hook than that.”

“Are you sure? Sounds like a drag, and who knows what I might get as bycatch?”

Eret waited patiently as a clang came from within the housing and then Hiccup cursed slightly. “Found the problem. And what can I say? It might be a wash.”

“Oh good. Can you give the pump a tuna up?”

“Sure, it won’t take long to fin-ish. One sec.”

Eret was glad for the pause as Hiccup worked on something inside of the pump housing—followed by an _alarming_ splattering sound of some goop hitting the floor—as he racked his brains for his next response.

As Hiccup emerged, a grime-encrusted part in his gloved hands, Eret said cheerfully, “So, how did your deep trawl go? Net anything good?”

“I shore did,” Hiccup replied without missing a beat, examining the fouled mechanism closely. Eret had to resist the urge to walk over to him and clean the grime off of his face; given the intimacy of the action, that might lead to places he wasn’t sure were safe yet.

“Boo,” he said instead, even as he grinned warmly. “I’ll just give that a wave on past.”

Hiccup took the part over to a workbench and brought his toolkit over with him. As he started to clean and disassemble it, he said cheerfully, “So having the whole lab to yourself? Got to be a real _watershed_ moment in your career.”

“I sea that we’re transitioning away from fish puns?” Eret commented with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“They’ve been dune, wouldn’t you say?” Hiccup said, removing a few screws from the part’s housing.

“Bayou, maybe,” Eret riposted.

“Oh, well done! That was a good one!” Hiccup seemed to consider. “I can’t levee that alone, though.”

“Bit of a stretch, but I’ll allow it,” Eret said cheerfully, and grinned at Hiccup as the other man met his eyes. He was _really_ cute… “But the quality of these puns is really starting to _plateau._ ”

Hiccup paused, and Eret internally crowed as the other man was visibly working on a response.

He was just about to declare victory in their pun war when Hiccup went, with an exaggerated gulping sound, “ _Gulf.”_

And Eret _lost it._

He started laughing hard, tears leaking from his eyes, leaning on the workbench, and Hiccup laughed with him, the pair of them howling with glee, feeding off of each other, both of them whooping back and forth; whenever one of them was winding down or catching his breath, one look at the other man would set him off again, and round and round they went, with Haddock almost falling over at one point, and Eret supporting him, even as spots swam in his own eyes.

Finally, braced against each other, both of them gasping for breath after laughing themselves sick, Eret managed to get out, “You win. I concede.”

Hiccup’s grin was so warm and genuine that it was a tough moment not to kiss him right then and there, but Eret didn’t want to spoil the moment.

Feeling a little light-headed from how hard they’d been laughing, Eret straightened up, and instead of giving the other man the act of affection he _wanted_ to give, he just patted him on the shoulder.

Hiccup continued to grin at him even as he straightened and said, “I’ll finish the pump for you. It’s almost done; there was a short in the power supply and it just needs a new wire.”

“Glad to hear it. And next time we have a pun war, I want to have Astrid in earshot, just to see her reactions.”

“Would that be safe for us?”

“I like to live dangerously,” Eret said gleefully.

“Then I’ll happily join you in that,” Hiccup said, and turned back to his work, and Eret did the same. A short while later, after some more light chatting between the two of them, Hiccup reinstalled the pump part and closed the housing back up. Once the power turned back on, the machine thrummed back to life, making Eret sigh in relief.

“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver—not just for me, but also for my subjects here.” He motioned to the tanks of marine organisms.

“Don’t worry about it!” Hiccup said with a grin. “Just doing my job. Now I think I gotta go back outside and help build some snow roads.”

“Have fun!”

.oOo.

“Oh, very nice,” Astrid breathed as she looked over Hiccup’s shoulder at the computer screen where the pair of them were in the computer lab.

He twisted to look at her. “You think so? I’d think that time-lapses are old hat around here.”

“Still pretty,” she said earnestly. “And you caught the aurora perfectly. Wow.” She leaned in to look at the video on his laptop screen as the green ripples of light danced across the night sky from a vantage point somehow above the base, but not from Observation Hill. “Gorgeous.”

It was full dark outside, and the sun’s disk wasn’t even fully emerging above the horizon these days as the months-long arctic night had finally arrived in force. Hiccup had settled in nicely, helping maintain the vehicles and the snow roads, along with other work inside. His statement that he was an ‘amateur’ photographer had undersold his actual skill. He’d already done another time-lapse that he’d shown her from a trio of cameras he’d put on the snowplow to get a wide-angle panorama. That had been so expertly done she couldn’t easily spot the seams between the different camera feeds even when he’d pointed them out to her.

“Thanks,” he said, grinning. “But that isn’t what I wanted to show you.”

“Oh?”

Tabbing out of the video player, he switched over to his desktop, revealing a video editing application and a chat window. Turning away from the laptop, he rummaged around in his bag for a moment, and then pulled out what looked like a pair of goggles. Holding them up, he offered them to her. Blinking, she took them, realizing after a moment that they were…

“VR goggles?” she said. “Do you have a game you want to show me?”

“No, but I think you’ll like it. Uh… you don’t get motion sick, do you?”

She shook her head. “No… but what does this have to do with your video?”

“Trust me. Let me show you,” he said softly.

Shrugging, she put the goggles on, and tightened them around her head as clicking noises came from his laptop.

And gasped.

Hiccup had somehow made his Southern Lights video _3-D,_ and she was looking at them move and dance in a way she never could have before, as if they were closer, almost in reach somehow…

The video had some soft music playing, and she unconsciously swayed with it as she watched the clouds and auroras dance against the backdrop of stars.

Once the video ended, she pulled the headset off and stared at him wordlessly.

He smiled at her and said, “I set a pair of gyroscopic-mounted cameras up on a pair of drones and programmed them to keep a hundred meters apart and point the cameras as a stereoscopic baseline. Then I combined the videos so it makes a 3D image as if your eyes were a hundred meters apart.”

“Amazing,” she said earnestly. “Can I see it again?”

Grinning, he handed her the headset again and she eagerly put it on again. “Sure. I’m so glad you like it. It’s much too big of a file to send home over this connection, so I was going to have to wait before I could show my family. And they’re wanting updates on how it’s going.”

She chuckled as the sound of his typing came through. “Tell them it’s _amazing._ ”

She was halfway through her third viewing when she heard Eret’s voice, humorously alarmed.

“Oh no, Astrid’s being assimilated!”

Smirking, she started to robotically wave her arms and torso around, and then felt his hands wrap around her. As the video ended, she took off the headset and handed it to him. “You need to see this.”

He took it with a grin and went to put it on, but not before ostentatiously adjusting the headband to be bigger.

“Yeah, yeah, deflate your ego or it’ll never fit,” she jibed as he waggled his eyebrows at her—and she poked him in the belly.

Hiccup was looking at the pair of them with amusement. “You two remind me of…”

As Eret seated the VR headset around his head, Astrid glanced at Hiccup. “Of?”

“Um…” He bit his lip a bit and ran his hand through his hair, but didn’t say anything else.

“Is there a problem?” she asked. “Worried that we’ll judge you?”

“I won’t,” Eret said from behind the goggles. “Damn, this is _good_ work. We should get you to take pictures of us.”

“I’ve already been taking pictures of you at work,” Hiccup said, amused.

Eret made a flex. “How about some figure studies?” he asked jokingly. “So who do we remind you of? Your girlfriend? Or your boyfriend?”

Hiccup flushed a little, and then, on the screen behind him, an image popped up in the chat box. Seeing it, Astrid’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

He turned, flushed more, and closed the screen hastily.

That jerked her from her paralysis. “I, I… whoops!” she blurted. “Sorry! I didn’t mean—I…”

Eret pulled the headset off. “Wait, what’s wrong?”

Hiccup was staring at the pair of them. “Hey, Astrid, um… hi… can, we, um…” he blabbered.

“What just happened?” Eret asked, holding the headset out to Hiccup. “Did you flash her or something?”

Hiccup turned even _more_ red somehow before looking at her.

She looked back, the image that had popped up in the chat screen feeling like it had been burned into her eyes—that of an attractive and quite naked blond woman giving a cheerful thumb’s up to the camera as she sucked hard on a man’s massive cock, her cheeks concave with his hands interlaced in her hair, the image captioned with _We miss you Hiccup! Wish you were here! Hope you’re having fun down there!_ It had been more surprising than scarring—that Hiccup was getting _that_ kind of, ahem, _titillating_ picture sent to him by someone.

And _boy_ had it featured tits!

As that thought went through her mind, Hiccup bit his lip again before glancing around—the lab was deserted aside from them—and said, “You two promise you won’t judge?”

Astrid nodded. “I promise. And I know that Eret won’t.”

“Okay, um… so…” He ran his hands through his hair as they looked at him. “I do have a boyfriend. _And_ a girlfriend. Justin and Cami.”

“Aha,” Eret said before grinning. “Lucky them.”

Hiccup blinked and his blush started to fade. “Uh… So… they might have just sent me a picture and Astrid got an eyeful…”

She nodded. “Mmmhmm. Not that I’m complaining. So… they’re your partners? Lucky. Um… what did they mean by ‘hope you’re having fun down there’?”

Hiccup squirmed a little. “Oh, they’ve both—well, mostly Cami, but Fishlegs a bit too—been teasing me about coming down here. Cami was sending me all of the articles on how much sex everyone has down here all through my time in quarantine, and they’ve been upping the ante lately with pictures and wanting to know if I got lucky with anyone.” He glanced at both her and Eret. “And… well… we _do_ have an open relationship…”

Astrid glanced back at the closed laptop and then back at Hiccup. “Oh?” A smile started to spread across her face. “So why didn’t you say anything to _us?_ ”

“Well, you two seemed so happy together that I didn’t want to try to insert myself… and you two were becoming my friends and I didn’t want to risk making it weird… but I _do_ like both of you…”

Astrid could _feel_ the grin creeping up on Eret’s face from where he stood next to her, matching the one on her own face.

“Come on,” he said. “The bar is open, and I think you need a drink. Not to seduce you, but I want to hear about your partners. You’ve been holding out on us.”

“I… uh… I wasn’t expecting that reaction,” Hiccup said, and Astrid chuckled.

“That’s Eret for you. And I’m curious too. Um… is it a problem that I saw that picture? Privacy and all of that?”

Hiccup bit his lip and said, “One sec.” Taking the laptop, he turned it, opened it up, and typed for a moment. There was a pause while they waited, and she found herself thinking on that picture. Part of her was a bit disappointed that Hiccup hadn’t been a bit more proactive in making his own interest known, but on the other hand… well, it was still early in the winter and there was still plenty of _time._

Then Hiccup snorted and turned the laptop around.

Astrid saw a few lines of chat, followed by a gray block of a picture in the process of loading. Having a sneaking suspicion what she was about to see, she read the chat quickly.

Hiccup: _Hey, so remember that couple I told you two about?_

Cami: _The ones you were going on and on about how you wanted to hop in the sack with them but you didn’t want to be a third wheel or make it weird? Those two? The big tattooed hunk in the diving gear and the hot leggy blond? Yeah. What about them?_

Hiccup: _You accidentally flashed Astrid with that picture you sent me._

Cami: _Score!_

Hiccup: _Astrid wanted to know if it’s okay with you that she accidentally saw your nudes._

Cami: _You’re kidding, right? Let me know if that works as an icebreaker for you or not. (heh. geddit? Icebreaker?) And if they want more, I’m more than willing to share—and if this helps you get into the sack with them, I want pictures! We miss you! Here, share this with them!_

Eret snorted. “I like her.” Then the picture finished loading and his eyebrows skyrocketed. “Nope, now I _definitely_ like her.”

Astrid grinned at the sight, as the woman—Cami, she supposed, and wasn’t _this_ a hell of an introduction?—was wearing a cheeky smile and nothing else, but boy, could she _accessorize_. “Can I get her contact info? She has good taste.”

Hiccup laughed and said, “Sure. She’d love that.”

“And what about your boyfriend? Justin? Or was it Fishlegs?” Eret asked. “Is he going to say anything?”

“Oh, he’s cool, but Cami’s the extrovert of the three of us. And Fishlegs is his nickname,” Hiccup said, some of his awkwardness melting away.

“But you’re a full triad? It’s not just Cami having two boyfriends?” Eret pressed.

Hiccup shook his head. “No, all three of us are bi and we’re a triangle, not a hinge.”

“Oh good.” Eret grinned and, moving slowly, bent down and gave Hiccup a peck on the lips. “Been wanting to do that since you showed up in my lab.”

Astrid enjoyed the look of flustered happiness on Hiccup’s face as they pulled apart. “Well… uh… you weren’t alone in wanting that,” he said.

Eret beamed at him. “Come on. Drinks at the bar—just a little—while you tell us about your fascinating home life, and then, if you’re up for it…” He winked suggestively.

Hiccup grinned. “Sounds great. Just let me check one last thing…” He looked at his laptop again, and grinned. “So Cami told Justin about this.”

“And? He’s not bothered that I saw that picture, is he?” Astrid asked.

“Uh… no. In fact, I’ve been told to share another bit with you two,” Hiccup said, and squirmed a bit. “Apparently, fair’s fair… if you want to.”

Astrid nodded. “Yes!” Eret made a noise of agreement next to her.

Hiccup fiddled with his laptop for a moment and then turned the screen.

Astrid felt heat pool in her belly as a short video—sound off—started to play on the laptop, featuring Hiccup, Cami and Fishlegs in a living room, the three of them necking and kissing next to a couch; a quick glance at the file name made her smile. _When Missing Home pt-07._

“Made some home videos in case you got homesick?” she asked.

“Yup. And Fish told me to share it. He’s gotten a lot more confident since we started dating him.”

As digital-Fishlegs’ pants and underwear came off, Eret commented, “I can see why. Damn.”

Feeling more heat percolating in her gut, Astrid joked, “Feeling inadequate, Eret?”

“It’s not the size of the tool that’s important, but how you use it,” Eret responded. “But I can appreciate an impressive tool.”

Digital-Hiccup’s pants were also coming off, and Astrid gave him a glance; he was blushing a bit, and she could see that his jeans were starting to tent.

Leaning over, she said to both of them, “How about we save the bar and drinks for later, and head to our room now? It’s suddenly a bit warm in here, and you know that _someone_ is probably going to come in here sooner or later.”

“Right, right,” Hiccup said, shutting the laptop and packing it into the bag, followed by the VR headset.

Heading over to the dorm was quick, and since the place was mostly deserted—Astrid _might_ have juggled the room assignments to give everyone maximum privacy and spread the load on the shared bathrooms out as much as possible—once Hiccup had dropped his bag off in his room and they made their way over to theirs, the three of them were all over each other as soon as the door closed.

“What… do you want to do first?” she gasped as Hiccup’s mouth closed on her collarbone, one of Eret’s hands around her ribs, while the other worked on Hiccup’s clothes.

She felt his smile right before he released her with a pop. “I wanna make home videos after we’ve gotten to know each other,” he said, his breath chill on the damp skin he left behind. “And later I want to be in the middle. But it’s been a while since I’ve had anything up my ass.”

“Same,” Eret said. “At least, anything bigger than Astrid’s fingers. She’s taken me, though. Lube’s over there.” He motioned towards one of the drawers over by the bed.

Hiccup looked her over, his rough fingers still dancing across her skin, inching her pants down and leaving trails of heat behind them, and she shivered in anticipation even as she worked on his belt in return.

“What are your limits?” Hiccup asked just as she got the buckle undone.

“We’re both clean from our last checkups before coming here, and we’ve been exclusive,” Eret said, and Astrid nodded. “So oral, anal, whatever. You?”

“Same. Hell, I haven’t been with _anyone_ since that checkup before coming here,” Hiccup said, and then bent as Eret divested him of his shirt and then she got his pants.

Astrid grinned at him and pulled off her own shirt and bra, and a moment later, Eret stripped as well.

“Gods, I just want to do both of you up the ass,” Hiccup said, eyeing the aforementioned body parts. Astrid, smirking, did a little pose, and was rewarded with a twitch from Hiccup’s cock.

“And I want to tap yours too,” Eret said cheerfully. “But that’ll take a little prep work first. But as you’re our guest, you didn’t answer what you wanted to do _first._ Or _who._ ”

“Heh. That’s always the logistics issue with three people,” Hiccup said cheerfully. “Well, it’s been a bit for me with anything but my hand, and I doubt I’ll last long. So… which of the two of you has better oral skills as a warmup and to get the edge off for later so I’ll last in your asses?”

Eret made a show of considering and Astrid elbowed him. “He’s good with his tongue,” she said, “but he’s out of practice with cocks and I’m not. So…” Not hesitating any further, she went to her knees in front of both of them, feeling a thrill at the pair of cocks standing at full mast in front of her. “If it’s all the same to you, I’m gonna save the condoms for birth control and cleanliness down south,” she said. “I wanna _taste_ you, and I know you’re both clean.”

“Oooh. Go ahead. That okay with you, Eret?”

“Yup. I was gonna go with the same, if you’re feeling up to judging who has the better oral skills later,” Eret said with glee.

“Oh, I think I’ll feel _up_ to it,” Hiccup said with a laugh.

“Well, if I’m being judged…” Astrid said with a smirk, before putting one hand around Eret’s shaft and starting to work it lazily up and down, and putting the other around Hiccup’s base and taking him in her mouth. Just lightly, though, enough to tease with a little soft suction enhanced by the tip of her tongue.

He moaned and put his hands in her hair, urging her to go deeper, but she resisted, lavishing attention on the head, almost kissing it, relishing the taste of his precum; his was sweeter and fruiter than Eret’s.

Then, just to keep Eret from getting lonely, she released Hiccup with a pop and gave Eret’s cock a long lick down the length of the shaft before returning to Hiccup, still teasing him with the lightest touch she could manage.

Above her, she felt their bodies twist, and glancing upwards, she saw Eret giving Hiccup a deep kiss.

As Hiccup moaned, she struck, taking him all the way in, all the way to the root, and he gasped, his hands gripping tight on her head, but before he could come, she pulled back, sucking hard as she did so, and playing with his sack with her hand.

He erupted, spilling hot and sweet and copiously into her mouth as he wriggled and gasped.

Letting him slip, softening, from her mouth, she rose and, her mouth still full of Hiccup’s cum, went to give Eret a kiss.

He broke off from Hiccup as soon as he realized her intentions, and the pair of them languidly split the mouthful between them as Hiccup watched, panting.

“So… how was that?” she asked cheekily. “You’re right that you didn’t have too much stamina at the moment, but that’s okay. That was just the warmup.”

He nodded. “Damn. That was good. So… uh… once I’m back in action, how do you want this?”

“You’re the guest; you get to call the shots,” she said, licking her lips of the last of him with an air of anticipation.

“Right, right… um… so how about Eret… you lie down and she rides you, and then, once I’m recovered, I’ll take her ass and we fuck her together?”

She shivered with anticipation. “Oooh. Sounds good to me. I’ve never gotten that kind of treatment before.” Just the thought was enough to turn her arousal up even higher.

Eret grinned. “Well then. Sounds like a plan.” With a flourish, he grabbed a condom out of the bowl they kept them in, laid himself out flat on one of the mattresses they’d put together when they’d gotten the room to themselves, and, with his cock sticking up proudly in the air, he sheathed himself with the condom, setting the foil wrapping aside in the trash can nearby.

Before Astrid could bend down and seat herself, she felt Hiccup’s hands on her. “Wait a moment. I just want to thank you for before and a little warmup is sort of necessary for this, trust me. Eret, you mind waiting a sec?”

“Oh, I don’t mind at all, whether it’s waiting a sec or a sex,” came the cheerful comment from the floor as Eret settled in to watch, his hand gently working his cock through the condom as he grinned at his own joke. “I wanna watch and see this.”

Astrid moaned as Hiccup’s calloused fingers found her breasts, even as he pulled her into a kiss; while she hadn’t _expected_ him to be the kind of guy who wouldn’t kiss a girl after oral, he was dispelling the notion that he might have been with gusto, his teeth gently nipping on her lips as his tongue ran across her teeth, even as all the while his fingers alternated gentle brushing and strong squeezes on her breasts and nipples. The slight abrasive pads of the callouses on his fingers seemed to leave trails of fire behind them, and he backed her up against the wall, bracing her, even as he continued to kiss her. Bracing herself against him, she reached up and interlaced her fingers into his hair, which was every bit as lush as she’d hoped it would be.

Then one of his talented hands reached down and found her clit, and she gasped and bucked, but got nowhere from where she was pinned against the wall.

“Oooh, she liked that!” Eret commented gleefully as she moaned into Hiccup’s kiss.

Not to be outdone, she reached down with her free hand and found Hiccup’s cock, still on the softer side, but stiffening, and started to stroke it, but his fingers were drawing sparks up inside of her as he played with her clit and sliding in and out of her. A sudden squeeze with his thumb on her clit and two of his talented fingers on her g-spot made her see spots, and he kept going, not letting her have a moment to catch her breath. So it was almost embarrassingly quick that she came undone on his fingers as he expertly brought her off.

Pulling away from her and breaking the kiss, he said with a smirk, “So… Eret, she’s all yours, and quite wet and ready.”

“I can see that. Come here, Ast,” Eret said eagerly, and she tottered over on unsteady legs, grinning the whole while. Crouching down was a little bit of a challenge, given the aftershocks of pleasure making her knees a bit weak, but she managed with Eret's and Hiccup’s help.

Mounting Eret was a familiar experience by now, and she felt the usual stretch and sense of fullness as she came flush with his hips, but this time it came with a greater sense of anticipation and excitement.

Bending down, she braced herself on her forearms and started to make out with Eret as she slowly started to bounce her hips on his; meanwhile, he was starting to work her breasts with his hands, sending more sparks of pleasure down through her.

Then she heard the drawer open, followed by the sound of the lid of the lube bottle creaking open, and her excitement sparked higher. Breaking the kiss with Eret, she said breathlessly, “Let me know what you need us to do.”

“Will do. For the moment, let’s get you lubed up,” Hiccup said cheerfully. “Also, wow, that’s a lot of condom wrappers in the trash.”

“Can you blame us?” Eret asked.

“Nope.”

Astrid gasped as she felt his cool fingers, slick with lube, start probing her ass, stretching her open. It wasn’t a _new_ sensation—she and Eret had done it on the regular—but it was enhanced with the feeling of fullness from Eret already being inside of her.

“Oh, I can _feel_ that,” Eret said as she continued to slowly ride him. “Oh _wow._ ”

“Yeah, it’s great for the guys, too,” Hiccup said. “I can attest to that.”

Astrid shivered with anticipation. “I can already tell that I’m going to want this on the regular.” Also, being at the center of the two men focused on her was turning her on _ridiculously._ It wasn’t every day that she uncovered a new kink…

“I think we can deliver,” Eret said. “You ready back there, Hic?”

“Yup. You ready for me, Astrid?”

“Fuck me already!” she said, wiggling her butt at him.

“So impatient,” he said cheerfully. “God, I can’t wait to introduce you to Cami.” She was about to reply when she felt him at her entrance and started to press in, stealing her breath from her as she felt so _full._ “You two will get along _great._ ”

“Oh, man, Hic, you should see her face right now,” Eret said. “And _wow,_ that’s _tight._ ”

Astrid had no words as Hiccup inched his way in, just overwhelmed with a feeling of need and sensation and fullness, with their hands and mouths on her, the sensation of being stretched so completely threatening to make her come completely undone. “Hhhnnnnnggghhh…” she managed to get out.

“Error, Error, Process Astrid.exe has crashed,” Eret joked, although his own voice was a little thready.

“Mmmh. We should reboot her. Can you hit the power button?” Hiccup joked, and his hands around her shoulders pulled her up, angling her away from Eret, even as Hiccup bottomed out against her ass.

“Oh, I think I can,” Eret said, and a questing finger wormed its way between her body and his, aiming directly for her clit.

As Hiccup palmed her breasts and gently pinched her nipples, Eret’s fingers played with her clit, and she spasmed between them. “Aaaaggggh—fuck!” she managed to get out, her eyes bugging. “Holy—holy—goddamn!”

“I think she’s fine!” Hiccup said.

“I am! Holy shit! Okay, if you two could, could start _slow,_ I think I can handle this, but this is _not_ going to be a one-off if I have anything to say about it!” she managed, barely able to take the sense of fullness and pleasure sending bolts through her.

Both of the boys chuckled and started to move slowly in and out of her; she could tell that Hiccup was much more experienced, and he set the rhythm, but Eret was a quick study, and she came between them after only a few dozen thrusts, shaking as the sense of one of them going in and the other pulling out in tandem was almost too much. “K-keep going!” she managed as her body shook and they kept still as she came down from her climax. “I can take it!”

“As milady demands,” Hiccup said. “How are you doing, Eret?”

“I’m really fucking close,” Eret said, his breathing ragged. “Holy shit, this is fucking amazing. I can feel you and her and—” He gasped and gulped air. “I think I can keep going, but I’m not going to last much longer.”

“Well, I think we can give Astrid one more, and then it’s your turn,” Hiccup said. “Sound good?”

“Awesome.”

Astrid shivered between them, despite the heat of being sandwiched between their bodies, sweat dripping from them. “Okay, go a little harder and faster, if you can. I can take it.”

“You sure?” Eret asked.

“Yes! Now move! I didn’t want to go through all of this setup for just a short bit!” she said, and pushed herself deeper onto both of them with what leverage she had.

“All right then,” Hiccup said, and she gasped as he snapped his hips, filling her in an instant.

“Yes! Oh god yes!”

Eret, no stranger to giving it to her hard, did his best to keep with the rhythm, and what followed was practically one long climax for her as they pumped in and out of her as she panted for them to keep going. How long it lasted, she wasn’t sure, but it couldn’t have been too long, as Eret cursed and plunged deep into her, shaking raggedly against her as he came, sweat-soaked skin molding against sweat-soaked skin.

Both of them spent, Hiccup gently pulled himself free of the pile and slumped next to them.

“So how was that?” he asked.

“A-fucking-mazing,” she managed to breathe.

“Awesome. Eret, let me know when you’ll be up for your turn.”

“In a bit,” Eret said breathlessly. “Wow. That was something.”

“Yeah, it was,” Astrid said, feeling all pleasant and floaty in the afterglow. She was vaguely aware that she’d be sore later, but it had been _so_ worth it. “So… Hiccup.”

“Yes? Did you enjoy your first double pen, milady?”

“Fuck yes. And I don’t want it to be a ‘one and only’,” she said, and looked significantly at Eret before glancing at the disassembled bunk bed lying against the wall. He got her meaning and nodded. “So…” she began, before pausing to catch her breath.

“So?” Hiccup prompted.

“Speaking as the person in charge of room assignments, while it’s an imposition and everything and I know that you have a single room all to yourself right now… how do you feel about a new room assignment with a pair of roommates?”

Hiccup laughed. “I think that I can deal with it, given the need for space.”

.oOo.

_**Six Months Later** _

Luggage in hand, fresh from the baggage claim, Astrid gave a deep satisfied sigh.

“You two coming?” came Hiccup’s voice from nearby, and she turned and smiled at him.

“Often,” she said with a smirk.

He chuckled. His assignment for overwintering had expired, Eret’s grant had run out, and she’d spent a year and a half straight at the South Pole and so it was time to head back north for her and see something green. And after months of text chats and flirting and time together…

Splitting up hadn’t been a welcome thought.

So Hiccup had invited them to stay with him and his partners at his house—which he’d inherited from his parents, and had offered to Eret and Astrid as rent-free quarters while they got themselves settled and figured things out for themselves professionally, after with how they’d gone down there for their careers and ended up coming back romantically entangled with not just him, but his existing partners.

And speaking of figuring things out there…

They went out through the security fence into the crowd of people waiting for arrivals, and a pair of blonds waved from the back. The answer for why Fishlegs—Astrid loved that nickname—and Cami were back that far came when Cami broke into a run.

Astrid watched as the short blond woman tackled Hiccup in a flying hug, nearly knocking him over, and then Fishlegs came up and hugged the both of them, picking them both up off of their feet.

“Miss me?” Hiccup managed to gasp out from beneath the pair of hugs.

“The bed felt so _empty,_ ” Cami said earnestly as a number of people clapped and laughed at their enthusiasm, and then went back to watching for their own loved ones.

“ _Somehow_ empty,” Fishlegs added with a laugh, motioning to their relative sizes.

Astrid grinned, and Cami looked up at her, and beamed. “Thanks for taking care—and _taking care_ —of our boyfriend,” she said cheerfully, with a wicked wink.

Eret leered warmly at her. “Not a problem. He’s a great lay.”

“Isn’t he just? I hope you kept him in tone,” Cami said cheerfully, and they all laughed and started walking for the exit.

“Don’t worry, his stamina hasn’t dropped at all,” Eret said in a mock-whisper.

“Oh good. Fishlegs did his best, but I kept him on quite a workout.”

Fishlegs chuckled at that, and said, “If not for our toy collection, I might have just collapsed from exhaustion.”

“Or erosion,” Cami said with relish.

Astrid laughed at that and turned to Cami. “It’s great to finally meet you in person. Both of you.”

Cami cackled. “In the flesh. Wait, no, that’ll have to wait for later,” she said with a leer and they all laughed. Cami had been _very_ pleased with the pictures they’d sent back of their activities, and had responded in kind with more pictures of her and Fishlegs. By this point, after months of text chats, Astrid felt as if Cami was an old friend—and one who had claimed the first triple penetration between their three boyfriends when they had the chance, which Astrid had more than been willing to grant her.

“Well, we’ve got a reservation for five at Hiccup’s favorite restaurant as a welcome home, and then it's off to the house,” Fishlegs said. “And we’ve got the spare bedroom set up for you two while we figure out long-term setups.”

“Awesome. Lead the way,” Eret said with a grin.

“Gladly,” Fishlegs said with a matching smile. “Car’s this way and if we’re going to have this orgy that Cami’s been hankering for, you should at least get some food and rest first. And I’m looking forward to talking with you when there’s not a computer in the way. I’ve been reading up on your research and I’m fascinated.”

Astrid smiled as they all chattered; Eret and Fishlegs were chatting about his biology and ecology research, and Cami was talking about her own work with Hiccup. As they exited the airport, she greedily took a deep, deep sniff of the autumn air; yes, it was cold, but not as cold as it had been by McMurdo. And she could smell plants and dirt and all of the things that Antarctica lacked, and she still wasn’t used to smelling it all again.

Glancing around at the other four people with her, she could only grin. She was home with her family, as strange as that thought was.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed my smutty shippy one-shot with no real plot or backbone, and lots of lemons! I had fun writing it :D


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